Drol for the Atari 8-bit family
12Came also out for:
Apple II
Commodore 64
PC-88
Game description:
Drol is a platform game where you play a cute robot that can fly and shoot. Your goal is to rescue children that are wandering around each level. The levels consist of rows of platforms, with gaps which can be jumped through to go up or down a vertical level. The creatures to avoid and shoot vary from strange hopping, beer-belly aliens, to demons, snakes, and axes flying through the air (we never do find out who's throwing those axes!).
Like Defender, Drol incorporates a "radar" at the top of the screen, so you can find the children and dodge incoming baddies.
Trivia:
Development:
The author, Aik Beng, only credited himself using his two middle names. His full name is Benny Aik Beng Ngo, the brother of Tony Ngo. Drol (and Bandits) were independently developed and then published through Sirius and Brøderbund, respectively. Benny Ngo developed Drol while he was attending college. In fact, in the early days, quite a few games were developed by students then published through companies such as Sirius, Broderbund, Sierra, etc.
Remake:
In 1991, an unofficial 16-bit version for Commodore Amiga was released by Cachet of "X-Copy" disk copier software fame with enhanced graphics and sound. Programmed by Jörg Meenen, Holger Graefe and graphics by Sebastian Dosch.
Title:
The was originally named Trol. Brøderbund Software, Inc. suggested the final name Drol as in "drol". Drol is Dutch for "turd".
What I think:
Really, really fun game and so incredibly smooth.
Easily one of the best Atari 8-bit games. :)